Picking Up Photos

"Good morning."
"Good morning."
"Peace be upon you."
"And upon you be peace."
"How is it going?"
"Good, and you?"
"Very good. Praise be to God."

Another man comes around the counter.
"By the way, do you know Mohammed Didouche?"
"This one?" He pulls up a photo on the computer and smiles.
"Yes, that one."
"My friend."
"I work with him."

"Are my photos ready?"
"Yes." He pulls them out and sets them on the counter.
"Seven of the small ones, and twelve of the medium ones."
"They look good."
"It's one and a half dirhams for the small ones."
"Ok, very good."
"And how much are the medium-sized ones?" He looks at his co-worker. Shakes of the head. He looks at me. "How much are these?"
"I don't know." He worked there; I didn't.
"What did you pay last time? Was it 6? 7? 8?"
"I don't remember."
"10? 6?"
"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders.
He looked at his co-worker again. More blank stares in the confused struggle to set a price for their most basic service.

"Well, you're friends with Didouche. We'll make it 6."
"Very good." I was happy with the outcome.
I paid and he returned my change.

"God help you."

"Take care of yourself."

"Take care of yourself."
"Go with peace."
"Go with peace."

Scenes From Morocco: Medina Street

A typical sunny day's shadows on a street in Meknes' medina.

Islam and Prostitution

One of the most interesting social phenomena that a world traveler observes is that prostitution is much more prominent in supposedly strict Islamic countries than in the Western world.

A recent Guardian article highlights the situation in Dubai:

It is impossible to estimate accurately the prostitute population of Dubai. The authorities would never give out such figures, and it would be hard to take into account the "casual" or "part-time" sex trade. One recent estimate put the figure at about 30,000 out of a population of about 1.5 million. A similar ratio in Britain would mean a city the size of Glasgow and Leeds combined entirely populated by prostitutes.

This is a blog about Morocco, not Dubai, but the situation is really not that different, particularly in the disjuncture between official religious and legal policy and actual enforcement.

Even though selling sex is haram (forbidden) under Islamic law, the authorities rarely do anything about it. Occasionally, an establishment will break some unwritten rule. Cyclone, a notorious whorehouse near the airport, was closed down a few years back, but then it really did go too far – a special area of the vast sex supermarket was dedicated to in-house oral sex. When the authorities ordered it to be closed, the girls simply moved elsewhere.

One difference is that Dubai has a large highly educated ex-pat population. Despite their usual hang-ups, they often conform to local mores.

The other big category of punters is Europeans and Americans, and it is remarkable how quickly it all seems normal. A few drinks with the lads on a Thursday night, maybe a curry, some semi-intoxicated ribaldry, and then off to a bar where you know "that" kind of girl will be waiting. In the west, peer group morality might frown on such leisure activities, but in Dubai it's as normal as watching the late-night movie.
[...]
Wives and families escape the heat by going to Europe or the US, and the change that comes over the male expat population is astounding. Middle-aged men in responsible jobs – accountants, marketeers, bankers – who for 10 months of the year are devoted husbands, transform in July and August into priapic stallions roaming the bars of Sheikh Zayed Road.

So the big question is: why is prostitution so prevalent in the Islamic world, where it is technically haram (forbidden)?

Some of the Moroccans I know blame it entirely on Western influence. They point out that most bars, which are synonymous with prostitution here, exist in the newer parts of cities built during colonialization. The fact that Dubai, with its modernization and Westernization, seems to be the center of prostitution in the Arab world would only seem to establish that fact.

But it certainly can't be strictly Western influence, or else prostitution would be just as prevalent in Western cities. And it obviously is not.

Perhaps a better explanation is the money. Dubai has lots of it, and as the article explains, many foreign women can avoid lifelong destitution with a few years work as a lady of the night.

Thousands of women buy entitlement to full-time residence, and lucrative employment, in this way. Three years in Dubai – the normal duration of a residence visa – can be the difference between lifelong destitution and survival in Yerevan, Omsk or Bishkek.

Others might seek the reason in the societal-shaping religious beliefs of the different cultures. An Egyptian Copt I know says that one of the fundamental societal differences between Islamic and Christian societies is that of monogamy and polygamy. In Islam a man is allowed up to four wives if he can afford them (and, at least in Morocco, if the first wife approves). In Christian Scriptures, in contrast, the relationship between the church and God is represented as a monogamous, mutually faithful relationship, a model for human marriages. Jesus furthermore said that anyone who looks on a woman with lust in his heart has already committed the sin of adultery. Western society certainly doesn't follow these dictates perfectly (France comes to mind...), but the ideals have certainly shaped society.

My Copt friend believes that Muslim men cannot help but be on the look-out for the next wife...or just any woman, because the step between the next wife and the substitution of a prostitute is not that big of one.

Also, we might note that both religions have traditionally placed a high value on virginity before marriage, although contemporary Islamic culture places a much greater emphasis on female virginity than male virginity. And what do you get when have a large population of horny young bucks free to do as they please knowing they must wait until marriage for sex with a good girl? They're certainly not going to sleep with the virgin type of woman they're going to marry (although many do and then the vagina is sewed close before the wedding day)...they're going to slake their lust with a different type of woman.

On a final note, we might look at the location of prostitution, one of the other big differences between prostitution in the Western world and in the Islamic world. As the Guardian article points out, outside solicitation is rare in Dubai . It is rare in Morocco too. It is not rare in Europe or America though, where girls "work the streets". In some cases, the social atmosphere of a bar can protect prostitutes from the abuse and violence they face working alone.

Scenes From Morocco: Moulay Idriss

Moulay Idriss is a small but important village in the center of Morocco. Because the founder of Morocco's first Islamic dynasty was buried here, it has become an important pilgrimage site. The surrounding landscape is green for only a few months every year.

Scenes From Morocco: Restored Cross

The cross that was destroyed two months ago was replaced with a new one only a week later. A Moroccan Muslim neighbor built it for the Franciscan Catholics.

23 Foreigners Expelled Last Week

The Morocco Board News Service reports on the newest wave of expulsions, including 23 last week:

Morocco has expelled foreign Christians who tried to convert Muslims because, as a moderate Islamic state, it wants to foster "order and calm" and avoid a clash between faiths, its Islamic affairs minister said.

The government has expelled around 100 foreign Christians since March, many of them aid workers, in what Western diplomats have called an unprecedented crackdown on undercover preaching.

"These incidents (expulsions) were prompted by the activism of some foreigners who undermined public order," Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs Minister Ahmed Toufiq told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday.

"There are some who hide their proselytism and religious activism under the guise of other activities," he said.

I found this line of reasoning interesting. Factually, it is certainly correct. And in Morocco historically concerns over "order and calm" have regularly trumped individuals' freedom of conscience or religion, even if the discussion is limited merely to Muslims. Many Moroccans point to Algeria and its civil war as an example of what happens when you don't use government force to limit religious disagreements.

Thankfully, there hasn't been a civil war in Morocco nor has there been any sort of the extreme bloodletting along religious lines that we have seen in other parts of the Middle East. That is certainly due in large part to the strong arm of the state when it comes to these issues.

That being said, other comments from Minister Toufiq strike me as disingenuous if not blatantly false.

Converting Muslims is a crime in Morocco, punishable by up to six months in jail, but the authorities generally expel foreigners accused of proselytising rather than take them to court to avoid publicity and criticism from abroad.

Muslims make up 99 percent of Morocco's population and the north African country allows freedom of worship to mostly foreign Christians and a few thousand indigenous Jews.

Toufiq said Morocco was eager to foster respect and coexistence between its different faiths, but was also "protecting its religious community".

"Morocco wants to prevent a clash or conflict between religions. It is not necessary that one religion converts believers of another religion," he said, adding that he had explained this position to representatives of other faiths.

If it is not necessary that one religion convert believers of another religion, then why do so many Moroccan Muslims try to convert me to Islam?

Upon meeting a Moroccan, the second or third question is inevitably, "Are you Muslim?" often followed by others like "Do you pray?" or "What do you think of Mohammed?" or "What do you think of the Koran?" I can't count the number of Muslims who have tried to get me to repeat the Shahada (the statement of belief in one God and Mohammed's status as prophet, which when said, makes you a Muslim).

Perhaps it's not clear to Toufiq that Muslims also try to convert others, but from my vantage point it's as clear as day.

I usually shrug these events off with a joke. Or I quote an aya from the Koran to let my new Muslim friends know that I do respect them and I want to coexist with them.

But let's be real about this: most of them want me to be a Muslim. And I wish that they had a real knowledge of the Christian gospel and not the false representation they are all taught. And any sort of honest dialogue in respect has to start from those facts.

In a state where true religious liberty existed, where freedom of conscience was actually valued, we would be able to have discussions about these subjects in mutual respect and tolerance. We would be able to speak openly and the force of the state would not interfere in those discussions nor in the decisions that resulted.

Morocco is not that kind of state.

Taking Attendance

The secretary of our language school, who is also one of the many Moroccan teachers at our center, called me in after work.

"You've been writing a name on the attendance sheets that doesn't exist."

"Really? Whose name is it? And in which class?"

She shuffled the papers around for a while looking for the sheet in question.

"Here it is."

I looked at it. Along the top, my name, level, class period, and date were all correct. Sometimes I use the American [month/day/year] instead of the international [day/month/year] for the date. In this case, though, I had got it right.

My eyes scanned lowered. On the left side, I had written three students' names. They were all in the class, and they had all been gone that day.

I looked over at the right side. There I had written: "TARDY:" followed by another student's name. We weren't required to note the tardies, but I knew that sometimes they called the parents if students regularly waltzed in late, especially the young girls. She was definitely in the class and she had come 15 minutes late, I remembered.

The secretary pointed to the right side. "Tardy. Who is that?"

I read off the student's name. "Yes, she's definitely in the class. She is on the list."

"No, no. The name above it: Tardy. Who is that?"

I looked at her with a blank stare.

Suddenly it dawned on me. I explained to her, "'Tardy' means 'late'. I was writing down the names of the students who came late in case you want to call their parents."

"Oh...no. If you have a problem with late students just come and tell me directly."

Scenes From Morocco: Yassine

Yassine is searching for an American or European wife. He is funny, passed the bac, and dabbles in a number of languages.

Seven Months Later

Perhaps I'm too much of a Western American libertarian for my own good, but I find governments' need to keep track of the humans within its borders a little ridiculous.

Of course, when it comes to the state of Arizona, home of Western libertarian and former Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, other considerations have trumped the privacy that comes with responsible individualism. One wonders what Goldwater would have said about his state's new law.

Immigration concerns cause excessive government surveillance of its citizens and residents in all developed countries--restrictions and obstacles that are rightly criticized by developing countries and human rights workers.

Of course, like much of the rhetoric of human rights across that cultural, economic and religious divide, it smacks of hypocrisy. Morocco really isn't much different from Arizona, except that the kind of profiling encouraged by law is of a different tenor. The police are still encouraged to profile and follow foreign-looking folks, but the reasoning is quite different. Foreigners in Morocco must be protected by the police to provide a good climate for tourism, the lifeblood of this developing economy. Of course, police observation sometimes serves a different purpose. Should foreigners talk about their religion with Moroccans or cross some as yet hard-to-define line in their religiously-motivated care for Moroccans, they will be expelled from the country. But as long as they are just here to spend money, the police presence is for their benefit.

Some in Morocco suspect anyone who stays longer than a quick tourist visit is an evangelist or pedophile. As a teacher of English, naturally, I fall into that category.

For whatever reason the Moroccan government, like many governments around the world, wants to keep tabs on my me and my co-workers. So in October I submitted a large number of documents. At two other times in the past two months, I have had to submit the same documents in different forms with different stamps.

Fortunately, these long bureaucratic processes eventually have an end. So today, seven months after the submission of my original documentation and after dozens of expulsions of my fellow foreigners--some justified; others unjustified, I now have my carte de sejour testifying that I am now a legal resident of Morocco. I have a little card that shows that I have complied with the government's need to know about its resident foreigners.

Go me.

Scenes From Morocco: My Room

After eight months, my room is now completely furnished. The handyman at work, who is also a carpenter, made me a desk for my room.

Parenting in Morocco

It was after 8 PM, and there was a lull as I munched on my chicken. So the 40-year old, in full uniform from the restaurant, sat down with me.

After a pause, I gestured at the street and asked, "Why do all the girls have to be home by 6:30?"

"Because their parents know they might be having sex."

"In a cafe?" I humorously questioned, identifying the only real option for youth in Meknes.

"They start in a cafe. Then they go to the boy's house. It starts in the cafes."

"You have kids, right?"

"Yes. Two boys and one girl."

"So are you going to let your girl out when she's older?"

"Absolutely not. She will be home at 6:30."

"What if she wants to go over to her friend's house?"

"You never know in those sort of situations. She goes over to her friend's house and other people are there, maybe boys. No, she'll be staying at home."

"But your boys will be allowed to go out later?"

"Of course."

"But what if they're going to have sex?"

"Well, then they're going to have sex with prostitutes, the girls who are out late at night."

Mexican Expelled From Morocco

The Moroccan Board News Service posts this testimony of a Mexican working in the north of Morocco for Gateway Medical Alliance. From his article, he had nothing to do with missionary activity.

He was charged with being a threat to the national peace of Morocco:

The official written accusation for my ejection was that I was “considered a threat to the national peace of Morocco.” After telling me in Spanish what was written in Arabic they asked me to sign the document. I told them that I was not willing to sign it since that paper did not describe who I really am. I told them that for the last three years of living in Morocco I have been trying to build peace through working with people with special needs and living in harmony with my neighbors. I also said that I have never spoken or acted against national laws, traditions, national religion or national symbols therefore I refused to sign that paper full of lies about me.

Apparently this is common:

The Spanish customs police received me with a nice supportive attitude and sympathy. After asking me normal customs questions and then hearing of my ejection from Morocco, they stamped my passport and added: “Sir, don’t worry, we are used to seeing this kind of behavior from the Moroccan police. This is their normal way of working.”

Scenes From Morocco: Chicken!

Chicken restaurants are one of the most popular types of restaurants in Morocco. At my favorite chicken restaurant, Brahim cooks the chicken.

Going To America

My friend Aziz called me the other night and asked me to come out to a cafe with him and his friends. He added that he had something to tell me.

I showed up half an hour later and after the standard greetings and jokes, we chatted a while in Arabic. When the conversation fragmented, Aziz turned to me and, speaking quietly in English (which the others didn't understand), told me he had won the American visa lottery.

It was obvious he was excited. Only a small percentage get the chance to become legal residents of the United States but many yearn for it. I had helped another Moroccan apply back in November, but I didn't know that Aziz or his friends had applied. I probably should have known better. For a good number of Moroccans, it is a yearly tradition.

Fortunate though he was, I could also tell he was uncertain. As he explained further, I learned he had his doubts. His mother has been sick recently. He is the only son. And his father doesn't want him to leave.

"They told me, 'If you are going to raise as much money as you need to go to the U.S., you might as well just start a business here, close to home.'"


After leaving the cafe, we walked around some and he asked me more about my opinion.

I told him that he could always come back if he needed to. One of my co-workers certainly did. I also warned him about some of the common pitfalls: getting involved in pyramid schemes, working a time-consuming job and never having time to get more education, etc.

He still isn't sure. First he needs to pay for an extremely expensive medical exam. Then he has to prove he can pay for the airline ticket and for his first few months in the U.S. Then he has to decide where he wants to go. Likely he will know someone who knows someone already there and use the Moroccan immigrant community for a head-start when he arrives. The whole process will take close to a year. A lot can happen in that time.

It's a bit strange to think about immigration from this end. My ancestors crossed the Atlantic Ocean by boat in a trip that took weeks and allowed no return. Within a generation or two (helped largely by World Wars against their former home), they had shed the old language and culture. And now we are all firmly American.

Aziz can fly across the Atlantic in a few hours. He can return every year if he has the money. And he has issues here before he even arrives in the United States. I generally think of immigration as an issue of finding a job, learning the language, and fitting in culturally; but that is only one side of the story.

I'm very excited for Aziz. Of all the Moroccans I know, he is the one who deserves a Green Card the most. I wish him the very best.

Scenes From Morocco: Near Bab Jdid

Like many parts of Moroccan society, the area near Bab J'did in Meknes bears marks of both the old and the new.

Geopolitics According to Moroccan Students

In general, Arabs love to talk about the United States and its role in the world. So when we started the unit on "would have", "could have", "should have", I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about the relationship between the United States and the Arab world. How could the relationship have been better? What should have happened?

Surprisingly, most of my younger students couldn't care less. The issue isn't as pressing as it is in other parts of the Arab world; they live comfortably now. Solidarity is a bit passe. When they expressed their dislike for the topic, I asked for alternative topics. The most popular one was "relationships between parents and children".

Below I have posted the essay of one of my older students.

A long time ago, the relationship between the U.S. and Arab world was good until the problem of Palestine appeared. Every day Palestinians suffered and [were] murdered, while the whole world was watching those crimes without moving a finger.

Another thing, since the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, the policy of U.S. has changed, They consider every muslim as terrorist and they succed to convince the American citizens by using a dangerous weapon is the media of course.

By consequence, the U.S. military attacked Iraq and pretended to spead peace and achieve democracy to Iraquians but their major target is to control the sources of petroleum.

After that, the U.S. Army attacked Afganistan and tried to get Ossama Ben laden dead or alive, the friend of yesterday becomes the enemy of today, during the cold war between U.S. and URSS, the U.S. gave him weapons to fight against Russians but the things has totally changed now, he becomes the terrorist number one in the world.

In my opinion, the U.S. should be more [fair] about the Palestinian issue. It should also be aware about the danger of nuclear weapons in the middle east.

As a conclusion, I guess the relationship between Arabian governments and U.S. still strong but the citizens are disappointed about the U.S. policy.

This essay pretty accurately represents the average Arab's understanding of these issues. This student simplifies the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Iraq war, and how the media works a bit, and he has a mistaken chronology of Iraq and Afghanistan, but otherwise he has a fairly decent understanding of world geopolitics. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he understands some of these issues much better than the average American.

As an Arab and a Muslim, of course, he is well-informed about the post 9/11 profiling of Muslims and the situation in Palestine. The average Arab has seen hours upon hours of footage from Palestine, but Americans rarely get a glimpse of Palestinian suffering. Unlike many Arabs, I am not a fan of conspiracy theories to explain this phenomenon, but the fact is: it exists.

Notice also the student's distinction between Arab governments and Arab citizens. The governments are allies of the U.S. The people (or the majority that cares enough to pay attention), strongly dislike (hate, detest?) American policy in the region.

And that's why this essay is important.

It demonstrates the average Arab's understanding of geopolitics. And when enough people believe something, exaggerated or true, it has profound effects in the real world.

Scenes From Morocco: Meknes Medina

Familiarly Foreign

The other day, I walked into a cafe that is on the same street where I live but which I visit but rarely. I asked for a couple of my favorite pastries and waited to be served. Instead I received a loud (and yet still friendly) outburst about how well I spoke Arabic.

Leaving aside for a moment the fact that it you don't need to know very much Arabic to order pastries, such compliments get a little old after a while. If I'm going to have a conversation, I'd prefer for it to be about something other than the fact that I'm a conversation in Arabic.

Like most conversations of this type, it followed a predictable path:

"You speak Arabic so well."

"Thank you. God's blessings upon you."

"Are you Muslim? Do you pray?"

"No, I'm not Muslim, but I do pray."

"Well, you are a Muslim then."

"No, I don't pray as the Muslims pray."

For many Moroccans the only reason why you would ever bother to learn Arabic is because you are a Muslim. And it's true there are many converts to Islam who come to Morocco to improve their Arabic and deepen their knowledge of Islam, but I am here for other reasons.

Eventually the man got me my pastries (or rather he had another woman do it).

I always handle this sort of questioning in a friendly manner, but after a while it gets a bit old. After frequenting the same places for the past few months, I get lulled into thinking that I actually fit in. And the truth is that I don't really.

I suppose that's why I go to the same places here in Meknes: familiarity.

Moroccan Cinema

Last night in class I had a difficult time coaxing a sustained conversation out of my students.

This happens from time to time. There are just a few subjects, like Islam, biased media, and parent-children relationships, where they're more than willing to share their thoughts. Oftentimes, there isn't much doing.

But this time the subject was movies, and the result surprised me a bit.

It wasn't so much that students didn't have favorite actors or hated movies. But any attempt to make the ideas of one student interact with the ideas of another student didn't get very far.

One of my students couldn't remember the last time she had seen a movie. The only part of the discussion she participated in was when we briefly mentioned "Titanic".

A lot of students just couldn't remember anything that they had watched recently. Most students had seen movies but couldn't remember names. This phenomenon, of course, is complicated by the fact that the French versions they often watch have been absurdly retitled.

Eventually our conversation drifted into the territory of "Why are Moroccan movies so bad?"

On that subject, my students found surprising agreement (the one woman who doesn't watch movies regularly, notwithstanding).

My students' diagnosis: Moroccan acting is pretty awful. Improve the acting and create real endings, and Moroccan cinema will be on its way to being taken seriously.

Scenes From Morocco: Volubilis

Volubilis, located half an hour's drive outside of Meknes, was the Roman capital of the Mauretania Tingitana province until the 3rd century A.D. It bears traces of both a Jewish and a Christian presence, predating the long Muslim domination of the area.